Knitting machine needle



P 1941- as. J. EVERETT KNITTING MACHINE NEEDLE Filed June 20, 1940 v E MM K mm 0 R. N R WEN NME m m l M W m m F I E YME m b:

w T T N 2m WW WA KW J1? r vidual tricks.

, needles.

teted Apr. 8, 1941 KNITTING MACHINE NEEDLE Samuel James Everett, Thornton Heath,,England, assignor to F. N. F. Limited, Gloucester, England, a British company Application June 20, 1940, Serial No. 341,573 In Great Britain June 23, 1939 14 Claims.

as has been described in the specification of United States patent application Serial No. 169,306, filed Oct. 15, 1937, knitting needles, for use in knitting machines, may be made in Such a Way that a tubular shank is formed at one .end with a bevelled cam portion merging into a hook. Such a needle is arranged to operate in association with a shim or tongue'lying in the tubular shank and arranged .to undergo to-and-fro motion relatively to the needle. In this relative toand-iro motion, the tip of the tongue alternately overlaps and moves away from the tip of the hook so as periodically to form with the latter a closed hook. When a knitted loop has been formed on the hook,'the tongue is withdrawn into the tubular shank while the needle is moved :lforvvard so as, by the cam action of the bevelled portion, to shift the knitted loop to a position such that the tongue, in closing the hook, will pass through the 1001). Before the closing of the hook, the thread is lapped on the hook once more for the formation of a new loop; then, when the hook has been closed, the previously formed loop is cast off. y

so such needles are used in a straight warp lrnitting machine, they are carried parallel to each other in a row by a bar, while the asso ciated tongues are carried by a second bar, The

two bars may be driven to and fro in timed reletlonshlp in vertical, oblique or horizontal straight line paths, or they may be carried by parallel niotion linkages. its a third alternative, they may be oscillated in arcuate paths. When the needles are used in a straight or circular weft initiating machine or a circular warp knitting ma-. chine, they are conveniently mounted in indi- Thenthe needles and tongues may be driven to and fro by cams acting on butts iorrned on or fined to the needles and tongues.

in the manufacture oi these needles with tubuiii) In order that the invention may be'clearly understood and readily carried into efiect'an assembly in accordance therewith will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a'sectional side elevation, on an enlarged scale, of the assembly,

Figure 2 is a plan of the assembly, and

Figures 3 and 4 are sections. on a still larger scale, taken on the lines IIII]I and IV-IV in Figure 1.

The assembly comprises a hook needle and a tongue which is a neat sliding fit in the needle shank, which is tubular. The shank comprises a tube l of circular cross-section with a uniform wall to which is secured a strip 2 having a crosssection as shown in Figure 3. The hook 3 of the needle is formed on one end oi the strip 2 so that the needle consists of two members, namely the strip 2 which is of such dimensions that the hook it can easily be formed upon it, and the tube l.

which provides an adequate guide for the tongue, but has such a thin wall that the hook could not be easily formed integrally therewith. The tongue t is tubular and has a bevelled tip 5 arranged to saddle the tip of the needle hook 3 when the tongue is in its iorwardmost position relatively to the needle. The dimensions of the cross-section shown in Figure 3 are as follows:

hashes Dimension A dildo lll imenslon B MlZd Dimension C Mild ill lar shanks, the provision of the hooks presents dilfliculties, particularly in the case of line gauge An object of the invention is, therefore, to provide needles that can very readily be manuiactured.

According to the invention, in a needle, for use in a knitting machine, the hook forms part of a member secured by brazing or soldering to a second member providing a tubular guide for a I tongue. The second member may be a tube so that it alone serves as the tubular guide, or the second member may be trough-shaped and closed along its mouth by the first member so that the two members together constitute the tubular guide.

The assembly is intended for a warp knitting machine. Wins, the butt. ends of a number of the needles have to be embedded in a section or bloclr of lead or synthetic resin and a number of such sections are lined to a bar to which to-andfro motion is imparted in the operation of the machine. The bar, therefore, carries a long row of the needles projecting parallel to each other from the blocks, as is usual in warp knitting machines, To eliminate any tendency for each needle to turn in the block in which it is embedded, the strip Al is formed with a bend it which lies inside the block. The tongues also are embedded at their tail ends in sections or. blocks secured to a further bar arranged to undergo toand-fro motion, and the tail end l of each tongue is flattened to prevent it from turning in its respective section.

Because the "main object of the invention is to provide tubular machine knitting needles that can cheaply and easily be manufactured in large quantities, some methods of securing the tube I to the strip 2 will now be described.

The first step in one method of manufacturing a number of these needles simultaneously, after the necessary tubes I and strips 2 have been formed, is to lay the tubes and strips on a brass matrix having parallel slots in its upper face, each slot being just wide enough to receive one tube and the associated strip, lying side by side in the relative positions that they are to occupy in the finished needle. In this method the strips and tubes are assumed to be a nickel alloy containing approximately 63% Ni, Cu, 3.5% A1, 1.5% Fe and no more than about 0.2% C, and the next step is to secure the pairs of parts in a jig suitable for holding them while the parts in each pair are soldered together. For this purpose the aforesaid matrix is formed with further transverse grooves in its upper surface which intersect the grooves in which the parts are laid. These transverse grooves permit a piece of aluminium foil, laid over the parts held by the matrix, to be packed round each pair of parts at the points where they extend over the transverse grooves. Then the aluminium foil, which has been caused to take up a configuration such that it grips each pair of parts at points along its length, may be separated from the matrix with the pairs of parts held in position for soldering.

The solder, which is a hard solder with a comparatively low melting point, preferably about 600 C. and not exceeding 650 C., is applied in the form of powder or small strips along the line of contact between the two parts in each pair. This is possible because the two parts lie side by side in the aluminium jig with the line of contact between the two parts, on one side of the pair, free to receive the solder. Next the jig bearing the needle parts is heated in a furnace to a temperature Just sufficient to melt the'solder. The par-ts thus soldered together have then to be subjected to heat treatment in which they are heated to a temperature between 500 C. and 590 C. at a slow rate, preferably a rate of 100 C. per

hour. The temperature should not exceed 590 C. and the needles should not be maintained at this temperature for any'length of time. Thus. the cooling should be begun immediately and continued at a rate which is preferably 100 C. per hour down to, say 350 C. This heat treatment is conveniently performed'in a salt bath but an electric furnace with forced draught may be used. When the parts have been cooled to I 350 C. they may finally be cooled in air.

A process similar to that described above may be used when' the parts are made of carbon steel, such as 0.7% carbon steel. In that event, however, the heat treatment consists in heating the soldered parts to l60-'l80 in,'for example, a salt bath and quenching the needles in water or oil, the needles being subsequently tempered at 280 C.

When the needles are to be formed by brazing the two parts'together, a matrix and jig are used in lthe manner described above but an aluminium jig is not suitable owing. to the high temperatures that have to be used. A suitable The jig, consisting of the investment compound. is then removed from the matrix with the parts embedded in it, the line of contact between the parts in each pair, on one side of the pair, being exposed. Pure copper is used in the brazing operation and this is fired in a non-oxidising atmosphere at a temperature of from 1100- 1200 C. The wax between the two parts in each pair melts in this operation, so as to leave a space into which the copper can penetrate downwards between the parts. The needles so formed are subjected to a subsequent heat treatment, depending on the nature of the material used in the, parts; the needles being finally cleaned.

The tubing used for the tubes I may consist of a length of seamless tubing such as that used in the manufacture of hypodermic needles. Al-

ternatively closed joint tubing may be employed, but the tubing should then be drawn down to the required size on a removable core which is left in the tube I while the strip 2 is being secured and which prevents the entry of the jointing material into the bore of the tube I. When the members are soldered together, an aluminium core is suitable. For brazing with copper, a core of a non-metallic composition is desirable.

This composition may consist of 60% brick dust and 40% plaster of Paris. The core may be removed by dissolving it out of the tubular part after it has served its purpose.

The strip 2 need not extend the whole length of the tube I, as shown in Figure 1, but the hook 3 may be formed on the end of a comparatively short strip secured to the tube I. Further, the strip 2 need not have the cross section shown in Figure 3 but may have any other channel or grooved section enabling it to be secured firmly to the tube I. If necessary, similar processes may be employed for securing a further member to the tube I. This further member may be a butt and it may also be a longitudinally extending solid wire for reinforcing the tube I in any particular locality in its length.

In place of the tube I, a trough or channelshaped member may be used, the mouth of this member being closed along its length by the strip 2 so that the trough-shaped member and the strip provide a passage which guides the tongue 4 and prevents the latter from undergoing any undesirable lateral movement relatively. to the needle. This trough-shaped member may be secured to the strip in the manner described above in relation to the tube l, a core being inserted into a member for the purpose of preventing penetration of the joint metal.

Returning to the constructions shown in the figures,'it will be seen that thetube I has a bevelled front end 8. This serves as the cam which, in the forward movement of the needle,

jig is one consisting of iron foil coated with an anti-flux material such as thick oxidising graphite or chromic oxide. Alternatively, when the parts are laid in the matrix an investment compound as used in dentistry and consisting, for example, of 66% brick dust and 33% plaster of Paris, may be spread over the parts 'after first putting a littlewax between each pair of parts.

serves to shift a loop of yarn previously drawn by the hook 3 to a position such that the tongue 4 can pass through it. When the tongue is in the forwardmost position there is a small clearance between the tip of the tongue andjthe hook. However, in the casting-off operation the tension 'on the loop of yarn passing over the tip 5 may cause the latter to touch the hook 3.

I claim:

l. A knitting needle, for use in a knitting machine, comprising a member formed with a hook, and a second member secured 'rigidly to said first-mentioned member to provide a tubular guide for a tongue member reciprocable relatively to said needle.

. 2. A knitting needle, for use in a knitting machine, comprising a strip formed with a hook and a member secured rigidly to said strip along the length thereof toprovide a tubular guide for a tongue member reciprocable to and from a position in which said tongue member overlaps said hook.

3. A knitting needle, for use in a knitting machine, comprising a member formed with a hook and a tube rigidly secured to said member and serving as a guide for a tongue member reciprocable in said tube to and from a position in which said tongue member overlaps said hook.

4. A knitting needle, for use in a knitting machine, comprising in combination a guide member and a strip member extending substantially along the whole length of said guidemember and-formed at one end with a hook beyond one end of said guide member, said two members being rigidly secured together to provide the shank of said needle and said shank serving as a guide for a tongue member reciprocable in said shank to and from a position in which one end of said tongue member overlaps said hook.

5. A knitting needle, for use in a warp knitting machine wherein said needle is secured by moulding same into a block, comprising in combination a strip formed at one end with a hook and at a point remote from'said hook with a bend, a guide member rigidly secured to said strip along a substantial part of the length thereof to provide a uide for a tongue member reciprocable to and from a position in which one end of said tongue chine, comprising in combination a straight tubular shank and a hook, said shank including a member formed at one end with said hook and a guide member rigidly secured to said first-mentioned member.

9. A knitting needle, for use in a knittin machine, comprising in combination a member formed with a hook and a guide member secured by soldering to said first-mentioned member to provide a tubular guide for a tongue reciprocable in said guide member to and from a position in member overlaps the tip of said hook, said bend serving to prevent said needle turning in said block.

6. A knitting needle, for use in a knitting machine, comprising in combination an elongated guide member bevelled at one end, a strip rigidly secured along said guide member on the side thereof including the tip of said bevelled end, and formed with a hook beyond said bevelled end, said guide member being provided to guide a tongue member reciprocable to and from a position in which the tip of said tongue member overlaps said hook.

7. A knitting needle, for use in a knitting machine, comprising in combination a straight tubular guide member bevelled at one end, a strip,

rigidly secured to said guide member along the side thereof including the tip of said bevelled end. and formed at one end with a hook lying beyond said bevelled end.

8. Aknitting needle, for use in a knitting mawhich said tongue overlaps said hook.

10. A knitting needle, for use in a knitting machine, comprising in combination a member formed with a hook and a guide member secured by brazing to said first-mentioned member to provide a tubular guide for a tongue reciprocable in said guide member to and from a position in which said tongue overlaps said book.

11. An assembly, for use in a knitting machine, comprising in combination a knitting needle and a tongue, said'knitting needle including a member formed with a hook and a guide member rigidly secured to said first-mentioned member to provide a tubular guide for said tongue, the latter being adapted to reciprocate in said tubular guide to and from a position in which the tip of said tongue overlaps the tip of said hook.

12, An assembly, for use in a knitting machine, comprising in combination a knitting needle and a tubular tongue, said knitting needle including a strip, formed at one end with a hook and a guide member rigidly secured to said strip to provide a tubular guide for said tongue, the latter ,ibeing adapted to reciprocatein said tubular guide to and from a position in which one end of said tongue overlaps the tip of said hook.

13. An assembly, for use in a knitting machine, comprising in combination a knitting needle and a tongue, said knitting needle including a straight guide member for said tongue and a strip rigidly secured along said guide member and formed at one end with a hook beyond said guide member, said tongue being adapted to reciprocate in said guide to and from a position in which the tip of said tongue overlaps the tip of said hook.

14. An assembly, Ior use in a knitting machine, comprising in combination a knitting needle formed with a tubular shank and a tongue which is-a neat sliding fit in said tubular shank, said knitting needle including a. de member for said tongue and a member rigidly secured to said guide member and formed at one end with a hook lying beyond one end of said guide member.

SAMUEL JAMES m. 

